The Importance of Christian Scholarship by J. Gresham Machen

Having been attending the OPC again after a long number of years, I've become something of a Machen junky.  I don't agree with him on everything, but so much of what he writes is just spot-on.  Here's a review I did for the local paper:

In The Importance of Christian Scholarship, J. Gresham Machen calls for a revival of learning in the context of Christian teaching, evangelism and defending the faith, largely in response to the objections of “modern”, anti-intellectual evangelical leaders and the insistence that deeper knowledge is not necessary for faith, and that the gospel is a simple thing that does not need to be obscured by too much scholarly research. Machen confronts these alternative opinions by establishing that scholarship brings order out of confusion and makes the message shine fourth more clearly. It is “out of a great fund of Christian learning that the true message springs.” To Machen, in evangelism it's important that we tell the story of Jesus “straight and full and plain” and that what many despise today as “doctrine” the New Testament refers to as “gospel” (one of the things so refreshing about reading Machen is how relevant his message is to today, even though he was writing these works in the 1920's...)

Machen teaches that Christian evangelism isn't just "look at me and my virtues" and "you can be as happy and wonderful as me if you do this and that", but explains that people are not saved by a radiant testimony, but by a preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only through the gospel and having this taught clearly and with a solid doctrinal understanding that the message is put forward through which they can be saved.

Machen maintains that all objections and criticisms of the faith are addressed in the New Testament. Teaching solid Christian doctrine to believers is about giving to Christian people materials that they can use in both dealing with avowed skeptics and also when they speak with their families, friends, students, etc. Christian scholarship and doctrinal richness empowers Christians to be both strong and fortified in their faith and to have a scholarly response to objections. Scholarship empowers the Christian to give credible responses to these questions.

Underlying preaching is Christian scholarship, necessary to both the preacher and to the man. The gospel is a simple thing, and while some objections would weigh that scholarship can obscure the message of the gospel, the opposite is actually true: scholarship helps the message shine forth more clear.

This work was presented as a series of lectures by Machen and is available for free from here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/53616023/The-Importance-of-Christian-Scholarship-by-J-Gresham-Machen

Billy Sunday

We've been reading the biography of evangelist Billy Sunday during our family worship time at night, and it's been an interesting insight into one of the popular "revivalists" during the early part of the 20th century (although, obviously, no one can plan a "revival".  Only the Holy Spirit brings a genuine revival in a believer's heart, in God's perfect timing.  But all the same, it's good to read about folks like this who make up the tapestry of Christian history).  The story is entertaining and lively in describing how Billy was a popular baseball player-turned-evangelist, and how he translated his baseball player flair into his evangelical revivals.  Situated in the Prohibition era, the bio describes Billy's crusade against the alcohol industry, having himself struggled with drinking during his time as a baseball player.  The description of his mannerisms and methodologies are colorful, describing Billy jumping about on stages and calling folks to follow the "sawdust trail", but his theology can, at times, be lacking (e.g. using a revival tent as a vehicle to encourage men to go off to fight in the first World War?)  Likewise, there's a crudeness of some of his message content, often resorting to using goofy slang and childish name-calling, versus simply preaching the message of Christ (Gal. 3:16).  Sadly, as the book nears the close we learn that due to Billy (and his wife) spending long times on the road away from his children, leaving them at home in the care of a housekeeper, that ultimately all of his four children died early, with two of his boys sinking into alcohol that ultimately took their lives (sadly ironic, in light of Billy's crusades against liquor).  If anything, that's probably the principle message I took away from this text: while evangelism and ministry is important, don't pursue this at the cost of your obligation to shepherding your own family.